


the sweetest taste of honey

by herwhiteknight



Series: yours, mine and ours [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Multi, everyone's hot and they're all gay for each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27210454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herwhiteknight/pseuds/herwhiteknight
Summary: Blake has a routine. She arrives at her favourite cafe at exactly 12:15, orders the exact same drink, sits at the exact same spot by the window and works on her novel. It's imperative that all of these things remain exactly the same in order to maximize her creative process.Unfortunately for her, her favourite cafe just had a new change in management. And someone else just sat in her seat by the window.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Pyrrha Nikos, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ilia Amitola/Blake Belladona/Pyrrha Nikos/Yang Xiao Long, Ilia Amitola/Blake Belladonna, Ilia Amitola/Pyrrha Nikos
Series: yours, mine and ours [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1193347
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	the sweetest taste of honey

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with these loveable dorks! This time I wanted to try exploring how each of the different girls ended up meeting each other, but then it kinda spiralled out of control very quickly and turned into basically a coffee shop au except not really so... there's that. 
> 
> I don't know how long this fic will go on for, but I had the first part of it sitting in my drafts for a little while and decided I could upload it as a few chapters at any rate!

Blake always came in around the exact same time and ordered the exact same drink while she worked on much of the same thing. A novel required consistency and her muse demanded the same cup of jasmine tea with the slightest touch of honey. And the consistent routine was actually working for her, her manuscript beginning to take shape over the course of the past few weeks. 

She was sitting in her usual spot when her jasmine tea was set down to the left of her laptop. Blake glanced up and frowned, expecting the face of her regular tea host so that she could explain that the tea goes on the _right_ because she was right handed and- 

_Oh._ “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’ve seen you here every morning for the past month while I’ve been trained and I wanted to get acquainted with my regulars.”

“ _Your_ regulars?” Blake asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice as she shifted her cup precisely to the right. She didn’t want to be rude, but she was right in the middle of a very important confessional love scene and couldn’t let the idea die.

The hostess caught the movement of the cup with a quick flash of her brilliant green eyes, but didn’t comment. “Yes, that’s right,” she said, tucking a notepad into her apron. “I will be taking over for Mr. Ozpin when he retires in a few short months. He asked me to familiarize myself with the regular patrons and, well, you caught my eye.”

“Well…,” Blake glanced at her nametag pinned to her _very ample_ chest and forced her eyes back up, “ _Pyrrha_ , that’s quite lovely of you and I don’t mean to be rude, but if you’d excuse me-”

“Oh, yes! Of course, I’m very sorry,” she nodded, stepping back. “I will let you get back to your manuscript. Just give me a wave if you would like a refill!”

_Ozpin at least would’ve known not to bother me,_ Blake grumbled inwardly, reaching for a sip of her tea and grimacing when she discovered that the honey was missing. “Of all the forgetful things…,” she muttered to herself, setting it down back into its saucer and glancing around the shop. Pyrrha was back behind the counter and Blake narrowed her eyes in suspicion. At this hour, it wasn’t very busy but there were at least a few regular customers other than herself that sat in their usual places.

Blake didn’t see Pyrrha trying to _familiarize_ herself with any of them, like she’d claimed that she’d been ordered to. So why, _specifically,_ did she make a point to introduce herself to Blake? “And it’s not like she even asked for my name either!” she huffed under her breath, saving her document and moving to shut things down. She wasn’t going to get any work done in such a chaotic environment, anyway.

“Leaving so soon?” Pyrrha called across the shop floor, glancing at the clock behind herself on the wall. 

_So, what, you’ve memorized my schedule but_ not _that I like a bit of honey in my tea?!_ “Something’s come up!” she just said without looking over at her. She didn’t want to see those pretty green eyes looking at her all sorrowfully. 

“Oh… alright!” Pyrrha said, and she actually sounded a little disappointed. _That’ll teach you to mess up my morning routine!_ “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” Blake shrugged, zipping up her computer bag and lugging it over her shoulder. She waved over her shoulder, forgoing her usual _“Thank you for the tea!”_ in favour of just shouldering open the door roughly on her way out.

"...and then she forgot the honey for my tea!" Blake exclaimed in exasperation as she tucked her laptop and its case alongside the bookcase. Ilia's eyes followed her as she all but stomped her way into their apartment, knowing well enough to stay out of her girlfriend's way while she was upset like this.

_Irrationally_ upset, Ilia added in her head - but it's not like she would tell Blake that.

"Then!" she lifted a finger indignantly as she went straight to the kitchen, only to find that the kettle was already boiling water. She took a sharp inhale at attempted calmness, recognizing the little loving gesture on Ilia's part. "She asked me if I was leaving _so soon_? As if she kept track of my schedule - but not the fact that I like honey in my tea?"

"Maybe she was trying to get your attention," Ilia offered with a shrug from the couch where she lounged, game controller in her sweatpants clad lap.

"My atten-" Blake started, then frowned a little. "Even if she was, I'm dating _you_. Wouldn't that bother you at all?"

"I'm not blind, babe," Ilia said, nonchalant. "I know I scored a literal goddess when you said you'd be my girlfriend - I'm not going to hold it against other girls if they can see that too." 

Blake blinked at her for a long moment before the high-pitched whistle of the kettle distracted her. She shook her head and went to busy herself with making the jasmine tea _with honey_ that the newly promoted hostess had conveniently forgotten. But… the more Blake thought about it, the more she realized that she recalled that Pyrrha had been brewing her order and getting it right for several weeks before this incident. "Maybe you're right about her wanting my attention," she said slowly, stirring a spoon around in her mug as she came into the living room and sat beside Ilia.

"I'm not, like, worried or anything," Ilia said, leaning over to kiss Blake's cheek before settling back against the armrest. "You know that I trust you. And I trust your judgement."

Blake smiled softly, looking over the rim of her mug at Ilia. "That's really sweet-"

"Like," Ilia interrupted a little abruptly, waving a casual hand. "If she's hot, y'know. Invite her over, I wouldn't mind."

Blake settled against her own armrest, her eyes sweeping across Ilia and the way she left the offer out in the open. There wasn't pretense there, like Ilia just wanted to have a one-night stand - though Blake knew that she wasn't adverse to those either.

No, it was… certainly _more._ It wasn't an unfamiliar conversation between them either. It came up, the conversation of _exclusiveness_ , but Blake had always found it rather odd just how blasé Ilia seemed about the whole thing. Not that she was ever upset with her for it, no. Just… curious about the different perspective.

"What if you came with me to the tea shop tomorrow?" Blake suggested lightly as she took a satisfying sip of her tea. The amount of honey was _perfect_ \- but somehow she found it lacking. "See her for yourself."

A slow smile curled across Ilia's face. "Y'know what? I think I'll do just that."

Blake hummed, leaning over to curl into Ilia's side as she cupped her tea carefully in both hands. "Whoever gets her number first doesn't have to buy dinner?"

"You're on."

  
  


When they arrive at the tea shop the next day, at precisely quarter after noon on the dot - at Blake's insistence - there's already a problem. 

"Someone's in my fucking seat," Blake hissed, almost backing out of the shop at the sheer _audacity_ of the universe. "This isn't going to work."

Ilia caught her arm with a laugh, halting her in her retreat. "No way, sweetheart. You're not backing out of this now."

"But-"

"Which seat is it? I'll bully them out of there for you," Ilia said, puffing up her chest like some grand knight on their way to win the favour of royalty. 

Blake buried her face in her hand and pointed in the vague direction of her spot by the window seat where a blonde was sitting. "Over there," she muttered.

Ilia nodded sharply, following her gaze - before abruptly pulling up short. "Yeah, nope, no nuh uh. No way. She looks like she'd eat me alive. Babe, do you _see_ those arms? Those shoulders? Holy fuck."

Blake snapped her gaze upwards again to fully process the intruder she had just briefly glanced at before. Ilia was _right_ , the blonde was _massive_ , built to hell and back with rippling muscles full on display under her orange muscle tank. "Fuck you're right," she breathed. "I'm gonna talk to her."

Ilia gaped at her. "You mean sign your death wish. Here lies Blake, died of massive blood loss from the nostrils."

"Only as much as you," Blake pointed. "There's Pyrrha behind the counter. You remember my usual, right?"

"Are you implying that I would forget the tea order you've had your _entire life_ just because of a pretty - oh… _fuck_ ," Ilia finished emphatically as she turned around to look over at Pyrrha for the first time ever in her gay life. " _Wow_ ," she said loudly, causing Pyrrha's head to swivel over at her from across the shop.

"Okay, good luck with that," Blake said, then squared her shoulders and practically marched over to where that handsome and oh so muscular blonde was sitting. 

It didn't occur to Blake until she was standing right in front of the woman that she might actually be working on something very important. She was typing away at her laptop, earbuds in with a very intent expression on her face. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't even notice Blake standing there at first. Then, as she paused to take a drink from a mug that suspiciously looked and smelled like it had some kind of _coffee_ in it, she glanced up. "Uhm….," she started, a little abruptly. "Can I help you?"

_Don't get tongue-tied,_ she told herself forcefully. _That's Ilia's schtick._ But, oh dear caffeinated deities, her _eyes._ Blake immediately almost cried at the lilac that gazed up at her, even though they were bearing a far from patient look. "My seat," Blake blurted, pointing at her chest.

"Excuse me?"

"You're in my seat," Blake repeated more firmly, despite the fact that she felt like a middle schooler tattling on a classmate.

Those lilac eyes stared back at her, even more unimpressed now. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that apparently this cafe has a seating chart. I'll definitely move everything I've carefully unpacked just so you can sit in your _usual spot_ , okay?"

The woman _actually_ started to shift her things to move somewhere else and Blake winced, lifting her hand as she sat down across from her. "No, no. Don't, please. You don't have to do that, I'm sorry. Of all people, I should know the importance of a routine to maximize workflow."

The blonde leaned back in her chair, not exactly settling back into her previous position but taking on an intrigued posture all the same. "And you are…?"

Oh, _this_ would go well. "Blake," she said, holding out a hand to shake. She deliberately left out her last name. It wasn't like she was famous by any stretch, but she had a few published novels and she didn't feel like revealing that particular fact just yet in case this woman happened to read her writing. And, she wasn't going to stereotype, but there was something about this woman that seemed like she just might. 

The woman regarded the hand for a long moment before flicking her gaze back into Blake's and dove into them with a deep sort of intensity. She shook her hand with a firm grip. "Yang," she finally spoke.

Blake returned the grip, and vaguely remembered Ilia's line about being eaten alive. _What a wonderful way to die_ , she thought to herself.


End file.
